Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV Raises Stock Position in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV raised its stake in Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) by 2.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,552 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the quarter. Eclectic Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $1,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Conquis Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson during the fourth quarter worth approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.55% of the company’s stock.

Johnson & Johnson Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JNJ opened at $153.39 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $153.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $153.67. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $140.68 and a 1-year high of $169.99. The company has a market cap of $369.07 billion, a PE ratio of 23.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42.

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $2.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 34.24% and a net margin of 18.20%. The company had revenue of $21.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.65 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.58 EPS for the current year.

Johnson & Johnson Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be issued a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $5.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. This is an increase from Johnson & Johnson’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.24. Johnson & Johnson’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on JNJ shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $157.00 to $172.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Leerink Partners lowered shares of Johnson & Johnson from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $169.00 to $153.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $159.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Benchmark upgraded shares of Johnson & Johnson to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Johnson & Johnson presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $170.88.

Johnson & Johnson Company Profile

Johnson & Johnson is a holding company, which engages in the research, development, manufacture, and sale of products in the healthcare field. It operates through the Innovative Medicine and MedTech segments. The Innovative Medicine segment focuses on immunology, infectious diseases, neuroscience, oncology, cardiovascular and metabolism, and pulmonary hypertension.